国际英语新闻：Obama's approval rating averages 46.7% in 2nd year

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama averaged 46.7 percent job approval in his second year in office, which places him on the low end compared with his predecessors since World War II, according to a new Gallup released Friday.

Obama's job approval during his second full year in office, which spans Jan. 20, 2010-Jan. 19, 2011, was similar to the averages of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, but better than Ronald Reagan's historical low second-year average, the poll found.

Gallup attributed Obama's low second-year ratings primarily to the country's sluggish economy and job growth. With slight improvement in recent months, the U.S. jobless rate still stands well above 9 percent.

From his first to his second year in office, Obama's average approval rating fell 10.5 percentage points, one of the largest first- to second-year drops Gallup has measured.

However, there have recently been some encouraging signs for Obama in terms of public support. During the quarter ended Jan. 19, Obama averaged 46.0 percent job approval. Though still low in an absolute sense, this marks the first time his approval rating has improved from one quarter to the next, although by a modest 1.3 percentage points.

The reason for the recent improvement is unclear, said Gallup, though it could be due to his response to the Tucson, Arizona, shootings, or the flurry of legislative activity at the end of last year's lame-duck session of Congress.